What is The Stele of Revealing and how do you get one?

The beginning of Liber XV The Gnostic Mass says in the ‘Furninshings of the Temple’:

“IN THE EAST , that is, in the direction of Boleskine, which is situated on the South-Eastern shore of Loch Ness in Scotland, two miles east of Foyers, is a shrine or High Altar. Its dimensions should be 7 feet in length, 3 feet in breadth, 44 inches in height. It should be covered with a crimson altar-cloth, on which may be embroidered fleur-de-lys in gold, or a sunblaze, or other suitable emblem.

On each side of it should be a pillar or obelisk, with countercharges in black and white.

Below it should be the dais of three steps, in black and white squares.

Above it is the super-altar, at whose top is the Stèle of Revealing in reproduction, with four candles on each side of it. Below the stèle is a place for The Book of the Law, with six candles on each side of it. Below this again is the Holy Graal, with roses on each side of it. There is room in front of the Cup for the Paten. On each side beyond the roses are two great candles.”

Also Liber Al III:10 says:

Get the stele of revealing itself; set it in thy secret temple – and that temple is already aright disposed – & it shall be your Kiblah for ever. It shall not fade, but miraculous colour shall come back to it day after day. Close it in locked glass for a proof for a proof to the world.

What Thelemites refer to as The Stele of Revealing is an Ancient Egyptian funerary artifact which resides in the Boulaq Museum in Cairo. It comes from the capital city of Thebes and dates from the Late Period of the 26th Dynasty which was from around 672-525 BCE.

It was created by a priest of the god Mentu, Ankh-af-na-khonsu as a commemoration of his death. It is made from wood and covered with stucco on both sides, a type of plaster created from lime, sand and water, then painted. It is rounded at the top and measures 51.5 by 31 centimeters.

The Stele was discovered by Aleister Crowley and his wife Rose on a trip to the Cairo museum on their honeymoon on the 18th March 1904. Preceding the visit Rose had entered a trance state and received a message stating “They are waiting for you” which she said was from the Egyptian god Horus. Crowley took her to the museum so that she could verify this by pointing out who it was that the message was from, as she had no previous knowledge of magick or Egyptology. She pointed out the funerary artifact of Ankh-af-na-khonsu which Crowley considered to be most significant, as there were many other more common depictions of Horus that Rose could have picked from other then this unassuming tablet. It was cataloged with the number 666 – the number of The Great Beast of Biblical Revelation.

The discovery of The Stele of Revealing led on to Crowley receiving The Book of the Law the following month.

The obverse side:

The reverse side:

The obverse side of the stele depicts the goddess of the night sky, Nuit, arched over the entire scene. Beneath her is the winged solar disk of Hadit, the heiroglyphs contained within the wings read: “the great god, Lord of the sky.”

Throned is the god Horus, above him the hieroglyphs read: “Ra-hoor-khuit, chief of the gods.”

Facing the god stands the priest Ankh-af-na-Khonsu, the heiroglyphs above him read: “The deceased, priest of Mentu, Lord of Thebes, the justified one for whom the doors of the sky are opened in Karnak, Ankh-f-n-khonsu.”

Between them is an altar of offerings of bread, cattle and fowl.

The heiroglyphs running along the bottom section of the stele read:

The words spoken by the Osiris (i.e. the deceased), the priest of Monthu, Lord of Thebes, the one who opens the doors of the sky in Karnak, the justified Ankh-f-n-Khonsu—

“O High One, may He be praised, the Great One of power, the spirit of great dignity, who brings fear of himself to the gods, who shines forth upon his throne—

Make open the way for my soul, my spirit, and my shadow, for I am equipped so that I might shine forth as an equipped one, make open the way for me to the place where Ra, Atum, Kheperi, and Hathor are.”

The deceased, priest of Monthu, Lord of Thebes, the justified Ankh-f-n-Khonsu, the son of the man with the same titles, Bes-en-mut, and the son of the musician of Amun-Re, the mistress of the house Taneshi.”

What we have as vowels in written English are not written in heiroglyphs so ‘Mentu’ may also be rendered ‘Monthu’ or a variety of other spellings.

On the reverse side of the stele is written a prayer:

The words spoken by the Osiris, priest of Monthu, Lord of Thebes, the justified Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu.

“O my heart of my mother (two times), O my heart while I am upon earth, do not rise up against me—as my witness, do not oppose me in the tribunal, do not be hostile against me in the presence of the Great God, Lord of the West.

Although I have joined myself to the earth in the great western side of the sky, may I endure upon earth.”

Words spoken by the Osiris, the priest of Thebes, the justified Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu—

“O Unique One, who shines as the moon, may the deceased, Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu, go forth among your multitide (this to the outside)—O deliverer of those who are in the sunshine, open for him the Netherworld (the Duaut)—indeed the Osiris, Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu, shall go forth by day to do that which he wills upon the earth and among the living.”

Saith of Mentu the truth-telling brother Who was master of Thebes from his birth:O heart of me, heart of my mother! O heart which I had upon earth!Stand not thou up against me a witness! Oppose me not, judge, in my quest!Accuse me not now of unfitness Before the Great God, the dread Lord of the West!For I fastened the one to the other With a spell for their mystical girth,The earth and the wonderful West, When I flourished, o earth, on thy breast!

The dead man Ankh-f-n-khonsu Saith with his voice of truth and calm:O thou that hast a single arm! O thou that glitterest in the moon!I weave thee in the spinning charm; I lure thee with the billowy tune.

The dead man Ankh-f-n-khonsu Hath parted from the darkling crowds,Hath joined the dwellers of the light, Opening Duaut, the star-abodes, Their keys receiving.The dead man Ankh-f-n-khonsu Hath made his passage into night,His pleasure on the earth to do Among the living.

Despite the verse from The Book of the Law saying: “Get the stele of revealing itself…” it would be fairly impractical for every Thelemite in the world to share the one original for their temples, only one Gnostic Mass could take place worldwide at a time!

Creating a stele from wood and stucco measuring 51.5 by 31 centimeters then hand painted would be the most ideal solution, however copies of whatever size most suits your temple are just as effective, painted on canvas, woven in a hanging or simply printed on card.

Not everyone has the artistic ability to completely re-create their own Stele of Revealing from scratch. So a black and white line drawing version has been created for you to print out and colour yourself in whatever manner you see fit, coloured pencils, ink, paint or whatever you have available to you. Just click on the link at the top of this page and print it out.

If this version is printed on card with a laser printer, it is possible to ink it in with water colours or thinly mixed acrylic paints and the nature of the laser printing will make it slightly water resistant, making it much easier to see the details if you paint over them. The background can be left white as the stucco originally painted on would have been a pale creamy colour; or you could print it on cream card or create a thin wash of water based paint to apply to the whole piece before adding the other colours. Please be aware that painting with water based paints will only really work if printing with a laser printer, print from an inkjet printer is water soluble and will make a big mess if you paint a wash of colour over it. If you only have an inkjet printer available to you then you can photocopy the print which you can do inexpensively at most libraries and public printing shops and still use water based paints as the photocopying ink will be permanent.

Once you have finished colouring your stele, if it is on thin card you can cut it out to the shape it would have originally been and mount it on thicker board; or paint a background around it if you would prefer to leave it rectangular, it does stand up better that way.

Alternatively, if you would like to paint onto canvas, you can cover the back of a printed version in graphite or charcoal, or buy some carbon paper from an art store and use the print to trace the image onto a pre-bought canvas by drawing over all of the details with a hard pencil or pen. Some printing shops will now print your own images onto canvas for you but this can be expensive.

Creating your own Stele of Revealing can be a really rewarding exercise and give you a stronger connection with the imagery. If you do create your own from the download, send us a picture at tamesa@oto-uk.org and we’ll show off your work in our gallery.